₪ a m e l i o r a t i o n ₪ CLOSED ₪

[kiwi hatake]

x.x that sucks, but distance never really matters ^^;;;

[AnimeJet]

it's hard cause we always miss each other, but the end will make up for it! :<!

Hatch! Hatch!

[kiwi hatake]

Aww D: well only a few months before you can make up for the time gone by >8D

[AnimeJet]

Yes that's true >=D

like 4 months though, oh well we did it once we can do it again haha. I'm writing him a letter now, i'm obsessed with finding cute stationary now too x_x

Hatch! Hatch!

[kiwi hatake]

xD hey now, January FLEW by! This time of the year goes by pretty fast so don't worry too much about it ^^

Hello Kitty stationary? =D

[AnimeJet]

I started with owl stationary, then i got some cute pucca stationary, and now i have monokuro boo stationary!

Hatch! Hatch!

[kiwi hatake]

O.O AJ is stationary happy!

[AnimeJet]

i'm tempted to buy more, and STICKERS too but i know i don't need that much.. but.. so cute.. so tempting.. fark.

Hatch! Hatch!

[kiwi hatake]

xDD keep away from the stationary stuffs!

I don't like restarting my computer <.< almost wouldn't connect passed 28K >_<

[AnimeJet]

You really need new computer..new connection.. new everything! XD.

Hatch! Hatch!

[kiwi hatake]

xD Oh I know it, but I'm happy with what I have 8D cause it works still! Maybe in the summer I can save up for a new one xD

[DemonicHarmonic]

MAKE ME MONEY!
Applicant: DemonicHarmonic
Nick Name: You can call me DemoHarmo if you'd like, but I prefer DH.
Date Joined: 02/21/2006
Quest: Horns of the Demon. Quest Thread Here: Demonic's Party House
Why: Okay, I have wanted these since I found out they existed almost two years ago. Simply put, I love them. They're simple, and go with just about anything, and yet a deliciously evil touch to my sort-of-scoundrelly avatar. I almost quested for these a year and a half ago, but abandoned that quest, and sat and stared at them, sadly, when others had them equipped. It's high time I quested for them myself, before they inflate so much that it's a far-gone dream.
When: Well, I sort, almost (not really) started about a year and a half ago. I didn't really touch the quest. I had never quested for something that expensive before. I didn't understand how. So I just didn't. Now that I really do understand, I restarted about two weeks before the new year, and officially opened my quest thread on Jan, 1st, 2008. I thought it was a good way to start off the new year.
How: Besides the menial gold I get from posting, voting, and doing some jigsaw puzzles, I really rely on selling new MC's, cash shop items, daily chance items, and I rely a lot on donators. I also try to sell off clothing items I grow less and less attached to as time goes by, that I can just re buy from the shops when my quest is over. (I'm very happy with the outfit my avi is wearing right now, so it's not that hard.) I'm deathly afraid of playing around with the market, so I just don't.
Birthday: My real birthday is August 25th of 1987. Usually for my birthday, I just go out to dinner with friends, and then we either go see a movie, go to a diner, or hang out in my basement. My best and only really exciting birthday was my 16th birthday, because I had it at Chuck E. Cheese, and it was fantastic. (While everyone else was busy having Sweet Sixteens, I got to dance around with a guy in an old, decrepit rat suit from the 90's while he threw purple prize tickets at my friends and me.) I don't get a lot on birthdays, I usually cash in better at Christmas. I'll get money, some books, maybe some DVDs, and usually my one friend will make me a cake in addition to whatever cake I get for the night. This year I actually will have a boyfriend there, so maybe we'll go out to some sort of special dinner. I'm turning 21 this year and I don't care what so ever about drinking, so maybe I'll jazz it up, go to a bar, and order a Shirley Temple or something.
Favorite Color(s): Pink. My favorite color is pink. Not that light pink, or the dusty pink, but full out, hard-core, in-your-face Barbie pink. My peacoat is pink, I've had pink shoes, a lot of pink shirts, and I insist on working pink into most of the things I draw or write. Truth be told, I used to hate pink, back in middle school, when I liked to pretend that I wasn't a girl, and I wasn't feminine, and I didn't want to ever be pretty. Then, eventually, I grew out of that weird 'trying to be unpopular' phase and started loving pink. I remember trying to play this change off. One day I came into class wearing a pink striped shirt, that was form fitting, instead of my usual baggy t-shirt, and this other girl was like, 'Oh my God, you're actually wearing pink??' And I turned to her, and said, 'Uh, yeah, I AM a girl, you know.' (As if I hadn't just spent the previous four years wearing big black goth boots and 70's band sweatshirts to school even if it was a hundred degrees out.)
Abortion, Gay Marriage, Affirmative Action: for or against these? Please respond to each one w/ an explaination if you want. A risky question that can earn higher donations ;]
Abortion: This isn't hard for me to decide. I am completely pro-choice, though I wouldn't call it 'pro-abortion.' In reality, I don't want women to go out and get abortions just because they don't want to be pregnant. My mom became pregnant with me when she was 18, so I understand that I could have very easily not been alive. But I look at my mom, and her life, and the way that she's been stuck in the same junky job for twenty years, and I realize that her life could have been so much better if she hadn't had to take care of me.

By all means, I'd much rather be alive. I don't know what it's like to be dead, and I don't care to find out anytime soon. I think about the women, any age really, who are already in poverty and accidentally get pregnant. I think about girls who are far, far too young to even begin to know how to be mothers. And I think about women who maybe just made a rash decision and have no one to support them either financially or emotionally. Yes, I'd wonder about the person that fetus is going to turn in to. But I also have to be fair, and FIRST think about that woman who is already alive, already frightened, and already in trouble. Yes, that means that I care far less about that 'innocent, developing child', considering that, while a fetus may dream and feel pain and respond to music and voices, it is no where near the range of emotions it's carrying mother has.

I believe abortion should be a well-informed, well thought out option for all women, of all sizes, races, religions, and situations. Not just for rape victims, not just for incest victims, not just for those in some tribe who don't understand that sex brings children. It should be available for women who forgot their birth control for a day, or had a condom rip, or even a woman who wasn't using protection at the time and knew she ran the risk. My standing, however, on UNDERAGE abortion is quite split. I, on one hand, think that a girl's body is her own, and that if she is old enough to find a way to the doctor and get the operation, it's her call and her right. But... that leads to older men having sex with young girls and getting them abortions, and technically, a parent has all say on a child's medical happenings until the child is 18 years old. So, I really still don't know where I stand on that one.

Gay Marriage: I am against most gay marriage. Marriage- meaning a joining of two people together in holy union. Why? Because it directly infringes upon the beliefs and rights of others in their own religious setting. If you want a Christian Gay wedding, you are infringing on Bible believing Christians that can point to their holy text and correctly state that their form of holy union is only between a man and a woman. Same goes with Jewish, Islam, etc.
Pagan, however, I believe is a different story. From what I know, Pagans allow gay marriage, so if you are gay, Pagan, and what to get married, you're in luck. You are in no way forcing a belief system to unwillingly cater to you so you can get what you want.

Legal unions of the state... I am for. Why? Because it no longer has anything to do with anything 'holy'. It's simply a joining of two people that love each other and want to be united, and I do believe they should get the full benefits and privileges of a straight, married couple. I think people on both sides of this argument need to be very, very careful how the word things, and both sides need to think more about this. Gay people want to have the same freedoms of straight people. Well, you can't order a Christian church around and demand they stop following their holy laws in order to make you feel 'equal.' No religion should be forced to bend or stretch to someone who is not willing to follow their religion in the first place. But churches and the state also need to realized that there are people getting married these days that have no belief in religion what so ever, and even when they get married in a church they slip under the radar. Church and state are not meant to be mixed, and they should remember that. If state is not allowed gays to be united in a legal ceremony due to their religious beliefs, then they are making a mistake.

Affirmative Action- Negative. This is a total no go for me. My ancestors came from Russia, terribly poor, from under the hammer of Communism, so please do not tell me you're getting money for college because you had some great-grandmother who was a slave on a cotton farm, or your family got it's land taken away by Pilgrims, or because your family only eats Kosher. Maybe it's that age-old Russian winter still chilling over my heart, but unless I get money for the sob-story of my great-grandparents, you shouldn't get it, either. Money should be given to people who are starving, homeless, or children who are very uneducated under no fault of their own first.

On the topic of hiring people for jobs because they are a racial minority or female... the same thing goes. That is not how life should work. If you can work, if you can make the cut, then you should get hired. Yes, there will always be employers who are unfair and favor someone for a reason they should not be paying attention to, but the answer is NOT to turn this around and automatically give someone a better advantage because of this 'glass ceiling.'
Favorite Music: I like all kinds of music. Really. I like classic rock a lot, glam rock even more so. I've always been a huge David Bowie fan, though sometimes I listen to a song because I love his voice more than loving the song itself. My favorite Bowie song is 'Heroes'. My dad died when I was twelve, and it just always reminds me that no matter what, no matter how hard things gets, you can always get through it. There are people out there suffering worse than you, who have memories full of more pain, and life's hardships are not a contest, they are a means to pull together, to help each other any way we can, and to be a real hero instead of the ones we see in comic books.

Queen has always been another one of my favorites. I actually hate We Will Rock You and I'm tired of Bohemian Rhapsody, unless it's with friends, because I can't resist pretending we're in Wayne's World with the licorice dispenser on the car's roof. Freddie Mercury's voice is wonderful, I love the range he can hit, and how there are times where it just seems to float. At the same time, he could go rough and grizzly, and it's fantastic. Much of their music, like Bowie's, has a story to it. My favorite album is Sheer Heart Attack. The entire thing is a story, and there are times the songs run in to each other. My favorite song on that album is Lily of the Valley, though I don't really say it's my favorite Queen song, because there are times I don't feel like listening to it, and want to listen to something from them that's more upbeat.

Another favorite is Matisyahu. I'm not Jewish, and it doesn't matter. I love reggae, but I only love reggae when it's positive. His are wonderfully positive, uplifting, hopeful...and at the same time, powerful. There's so much emotion in his voice that it's contagious. I also love Sean Paul and Shaggy, shamelessly, by the way, though I admit there music isn't as deep as Matisyahu's.

Placebo was my first really, really favorite alternative band. I had always loved P.I.L., R.E.M., other bands that are only initials, and most of the 80's and 90's new wave/alternative stuff. But Placebo really took the cake for me. No, actually, they stole the whole bakery. They also had meaning and stories behind their songs, but unlike classic rock, it was catchier, louder, and I admit to liking the songs that were pretty meaningless/nonsensical. My favorite 'slow' song from them is Sleeping with Ghosts, while my favorite 'upbeat' song from them is Lust Spite and Malice. I also love Because I Want You, Running Up That Hill, Special Needs, and The Bitter End. (I love most of their songs, but those are the ones that really stand out for me.)

Yeah, so, I like rap. A lot. I like rap that's explicit and more than rude. The Bloodhound Gang is great, but I also listen to 50 cent, Sean Kingston, Eminem, T-Pain, and basically anything that comes on the radio that they have to bleep half out of. This is my mom's fault, honestly. I used to pretend I hated rap, and then one day she made me shut up and listen to it, and I stopped caring that people like to say they hate 'rap and country.'

So, country. I like older country. I can't name anyone, because usually my friend from Waco sends me videos. Johnny Cash is okay, but there's some really good, lesser known artists out there as well. And, yes, I like Honkey-Tonk-Bedonkadonk.

Odd things I like are Disney songs translated into Russian, and other Russian bands. I'm not fluent in Russian, I can maybe understand 1/4-1/2 of the stuff they're saying in more complicated songs (ones that aren't Disney), but I love the language and love listening to it. Mumiy Troll is a great Russian poprock band, and the Gogol Bordello is a fun folk/rock band.

Favorite Book(s): Let's start at the beginning.

When I was six, my mom met my future step-dad. I had, until then, grown up reading fairy tales and kid's books from the thrift store. When I found my step-dad's (soon to be, anyway), book collection, I stumbled upon huge Stephen King novels. My mom was really protective of my innocence, while she didn't know that before I even started kindergarten, my granny had already told me about sex. Full out, all details. She was just like that. I didn't really understand it all, but I understood enough. I had seen some gross things when my pappy got sick, so when I started reading my first Stephen King book at age 7, though I didn't make it past the first paragraph, my mother was very upset. My stepdad wasn't. He told me to read anything I wanted, as long as I was reading.

Bad? Not really. By fourth grade, I was slowly trucking my way through Pet Semetary. Did it give me nightmares? Well, I was deathly afraid to turn any lights off or go anywhere by myself at night, but I got through it, in one piece, and with my sanity. After that book, I made my way towards a short story collection. Don't remember which one- it was the one where the hardcover had the mean-looking cymbal monkey on the front. I decided to take it to school, which was a huge mistake, and I earned myself a phone call to my parents. The teacher lost. I was reading. My parents allowed it. I hadn't let anyone else see it, and I didn't say anything about it out loud. The teacher just sort of shrugged it off finally, and I'm both lucky and really glad.

After that I read every King book I could get my hands on. I stopped caring about the other people raising eyebrows when I brought big books in. Soon, a few others brought big books in, and we found each other, and ended up in a gifted class together.

But eventually... Stephen King books got old. There was only so much I could read of him before I really, really wanted something else. So I went to the bookstore and picked out the first paperback that I thought looked cool. I judged a book by it's cover, came out with Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere', and from that day, have been more than glad to judge a book by its cover. I loved it. I went on to read Stardust and Good Omens. I was a HUGE Gaiman fan. During that time, everyone else had already read or was in the process of catching up with the Harry Potter series. Did I read it? No, because I was still in middle school and had some dumb pride around me.

So then Gaiman brought out American Gods. I... didn't like it. I already started getting worried that his work was going to get less and less well written, so I took a break. (I do think that his books are getting not as good, honestly. I think he's writing too many, too fast. I loved the Stardust movie, though. Fantastic.) I needed something to keep me occupied. My friend suggested Harry Potter. I said no. She suggested it again. I said no again. She handed it to me. I handed it back. She shoved it over, and told me to read the damned first chapter. So I did.

Pfft, boring. Lame. Kids book. Don't want it. Take it back. She left the room to go shower before we went out. Bored, I slumped into her antique chair thing she had in her room, and proceeded to grudgingly read on. And... of course... it happened. Snape showed up. I kind of perked up when they described him, but... his first line, I can't explain it, but I was hooked. I sat there, and said 'This is my favorite character.'

From that day on, I loved Harry Potter, and Snape has been, and will always be, my favorite charcter. Something really odd happened then, too. I stopped being a snobby b*tch, and let myself go into the kid's section of the bookstore. To make a long story short, I now have close to a hundred kid's books, hardcover, in my room. I couldn't get over them. They were more unique, more fun, and more brilliant than many adult novels I had read. It was like getting to relive a childhood I hadn't really had (since my dad died and I was lame anyway), and I just let myself drown in it.

To name some of them, I love: Inkheart, Gideon the Cutpurse (now renamed as The Time Travelers for some marketing reason), most Roald Dahl, a ton of picture books (some twenty page books are more moving than a thousand page novel), The Golden Compass, Narnia, Invention of Hugo Cabret (I saw the author speak, and he is wonderful), Spiderwick, Here There Be Dragons, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, and whatever else I'm into at the moment.

Side Note: I really disliked George's Secret Key to the Universe from Stephen Hawking, because it's set up more like a text-book than story, and I think it's really a turn off to kids and adults alike. He just packed way too much information and unfun diagrams into that thing.

I need another section for my other kind of favorite book, which is classic literature. I'm not a huge fan, but I have two very special favorites: Jane Eyre, and most of the things from Oscar Wilde.

Jane Eyre was beautifully and tragically written in my eyes. It had a happy ending, and yet it was one of those sad sort of happy endings, where you know the characters only appreciate what good things they have because they suffered so much previously. It's a great love story, one that was taboo back then and is taboo now (not Lolita taboo, mind you), and the characters are so lively and well written that it's a shame more people today avoid it because they probably think it's a chunk of old, boring literature. The emotions, the scenery, the pacing is so perfectly planned out, in my opinion, that I haven't quite read another book like it.

Oscar Wilde is, and always will be, my favorite writer. Somewhere between Stephen King and Harry Potter I became entranced with him when I read The Picture of Dorian Grey. I read the first paragraph over and over, it was so poetic and beautiful to me that I couldn't get through the book because I kept rereading the first page. I eventually finished it, and I knew I needed to not only read more of Wilde's work, but understand more about his life.

I bought a book of his short stories, a book of his plays, and went from there. I knew there was something painful about his life I didn't know. He was like something out of one of his own stories, his personality seemed surreal. I admit, I hate most poetry. I can't stand it. Most of it is tripe. But his poetry... it made me want to like poetry. I tried... and I kept just coming back to his over and over. His plays were witty at every line, every character unique, every image detailed in smooth words and purple prose.

I bought the my first biography on him. I was devastated. He hadn't just been a sad person, he had been depressed, tempted, guilt-wracked and self-loathing. On one hand, he had tried to be a carefree lover, a lofty writer, and a great success. On the other hand, he was out doing hash and having orgies with men every other night while he was married, and he hated himself for it. He had a male lover, but that wasn't good enough for him. He laughed to others about temptation, and then emotionally battered himself when he fell prey to it. His male lover dragged him down into that pit again and again, but he let it happen, and eventually went to prison for it. He died four years later, penniless and alone.

I bought more biographies, I studied his court trials, I read his writing over and over. I did an oral debate on why fans should be allowed to put on lipstick and kiss his memorial grave. I was obsessed, I was in love, and it was with a dead gay man.

To this day, I'm still crazy about Oscar Wilde. All my friends know that if I had one wish, or a time machine, I'd go back to meet Oscar Wilde. (Not my dad. Trust me, that last thing you want after burying and saying goodbye to a lost parent is to see them again. Odd, but true.)

My favorite poem of his (which I can use, since it's over 100 years old), is called:

The Harlot's House.

We caught the tread of dancing feet,
We loitered down the moonlit street,
And stopped beneath the harlot's house.

Inside, above the din and fray,
We heard the loud musicians play
The "Treues Liebes Herz" of Strauss.

Like strange mechanical grotesques,
Making fantastic arabesques,
The shadows raced across the blind.

We watched the ghostly dancers spin
To sound of horn and violin,
Like black leaves wheeling in the wind.

Like wire-pulled automatons,
Slim silhouetted skeletons
Went sidling through the slow quadrille.

The took each other by the hand,
And danced a stately saraband;
Their laughter echoed thin and shrill.

Sometimes a clockwork puppet pressed
A phantom lover to her breast,
Sometimes they seemed to try to sing.

Sometimes a horrible marionette
Came out, and smoked its cigarette
Upon the steps like a live thing.

Then, turning to my love, I said,
"The dead are dancing with the dead,
The dust is whirling with the dust."

But she--she heard the violin,
And left my side, and entered in:
Love passed into the house of lust.

Then suddenly the tune went false,
The dancers wearied of the waltz,
The shadows ceased to wheel and whirl.

And down the long and silent street,
The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet,
Crept like a frightened girl.

Future Job: When I was little, I wanted to be a secretary, then an actress, then a nurse, then a veterinarian, then whatever whatever. It was that age where you want to be like a hundred different things and can't quite make up your mind. Now, however, I want to be a writer. Well, technically, I'm already a writer, but I'm not an author. Never been published, but I'm working on it. I have a finished manuscript, in the final stage of editing, and I'm hoping to send that out soon and battle the long line of rejection letters until someone (hopefully) gives me a yes. Until then, I'm in school to be an English teacher, because language is my passion. I wanted to double in Russian and teach that, but it's not quite working out. If it never works out, I think I'll be okay with that. I'll just learn a bit here or there on my own, or take a few classes for fun.

I want to be that English and writing teacher that kids love. I refuse to make someone write in a style that is not natural for them. It is my firm belief that you can not teach writing past proper grammar, you can only nurture and inspire students to branch out, explore, learn, and come upon a style that is comfortable for them. I want to read books in class that students want to read, and I want to make those state-required books at least bearable and as close to enjoyable as I can. (I liked some of them, but some of them I had no idea why were we reading them.) I want inspire people to talk, to write, to communicate in any way they see fit to explore, progress, entertain, and inform.

I plan on teaching secondary English education. Somewhere from 6th-12th grade. I do love little kids, but sadly, unless they're related, I lose my patience pretty fast. Plus, it's not all that hard to inspire a little kid to do something if it's pretty fun. Middle and high school is where it dies out, where school becomes a task where you're forced to take classes you either hate because you're not interested or hate because the subject matter intimidates you. I'd like to break the boundary for those that hate English, and though I know I won't be able to do it for all, I can try my best.

Favorite Food: Food is good. Most of the time I can go for almost any kind of soup that isn't too thick, sandwiches and desserts from tea rooms, salads with a lot of toppings, anything with artichoke in it, and anything that does NOT have avocado included. I love coffee and tea, and drink one or both almost every day. I don't use it to keep awake, since too much caffeine actually makes me tired and shaky, I drink it simply because I like it.

I also tend to like burned, exta-crispy food. I have an issue with texture. I hate fat. I can't chew it and it makes me sick. In order to eat bacon, it has to be a dark brown, nearing that deadly black crunch. Mmm. Burn.

I'm a sucker for sweets, but I'm really, really trying to cut down, because I want to lose a bit of weight, and I don't want diabetes when I get older.

Anything Else: I love the show Lazy Town. I usually root for a villain because I believe all they need is love. After so many years of reading graphically violent King books, I can't stomach violence for some reason, except in the movie V for Vendetta, where for some reason it doesn't bother me what so ever. I can juggle in real life. I'm a hospital clown, and I get really pissed off and offended when people say they hate clowns and they don't have a real reason or a real fear of clowns, it's just fashionable to say you hate clowns. I secretly want to run away and join the circus. I have had, to date, three dreams with Voldemort in them. I used to draw naked people when I was little. I used to be in to natural healing and energy stuff, but I'm just too lazy, and I like to think what I want to think, eat what I want to eat, and believe what I want to believe, not what a book written by another human tells me. I honestly believe I am going to marry and live the rest of my life with the one I am currently dating. I purposely don't do things right away if my parents are nagging because I need to do it on my own accord. I'm really good at winning at crane machines, and when I don't, I feel ashamed and guilty. I get annoyed when people pity-party me about my dad's death. I'm paranoid about my teeth and brush them probably too much. I hate seeing wrinkles develop on my mom's face, because it makes me realize she's actually aging, and I hate that more than anything else. I love the light-headed feeling of staying up all night and then taking a walk in the cold morning while the sun is still rising. I hate when people see me cry or try to intrude, because I don't mind crying, I don't want to be comforted most of the time, I just want to be alone and let my emotions out. I collect teacups. I didn't expect this to be so long, but I really should have, because I know how I am.

[AnimeJet]

holy s**t..
thanks.. for the .. app.. O_O

Hatch! Hatch!

[kiwi hatake]

O_O *strokes out*

[DemonicHarmonic]

AnimeJet

holy s**t..
thanks.. for the .. app.. O_O

Hatch! Hatch!

redface

You're welcome. I... got sort of carried away.